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Classic ebony details complete the look The Greene brothers combined pillowed ebony plugs and splines with their signature cloud lifts, calling attention to sturdy joinery in an elegant way. TWO-PART SPLINE PROVIDES STRENGTH AND BEAUTY A cherry spline reinforces the joint, but the eye-catcher is the decorative ebony spline that frames the outside corner. at the tablesaw. Cut the tenons on the stiles that frame the top panel, too. After the tenons are cut and fitted, taper the sides of the spindles and the outside edge of each stile. I use a shopmade tapering jig at the bandsaw, leaving the tops of the spindles oversize and then handplaning them to fit the first step in the mortise. Round the corner and rout a slot. Use a coping saw to cut away the waste on the inside and outside of the corner, checking to make sure the saw is cutting square to the faces of the leg and rail (left). McClendon uses a bearing-guided slot-cutter (leevalley.com, No. 16J83.04) to cut the shallow slot. It takes two passes to cut it to full width (right). Drill for the bed bolts and ebony plugs To drill holes in the side rails for the bed bolt and barrel nut, clamp the rail in a bench vise, on an angle. Put the post on the tenon and start drilling the hole in the rail, using the hole in the post as a guide but being careful not to deform it. Drill as far as the bit will go. Then remove the post and complete the hole. I used a nifty jig to align the hole for the barrel nut with the bolt hole. You can see how I did it at finewoodworking.com/extras. Now drill the holes for the ebony plugs. Transfer and lay out the curve. McClendon uses a contour gauge to read the curve inside the slot (above). Then he traces the curve from the gauge to an ebony blank (right). I use plugs only at the major joints to add some visual interest. Most of them cover a peg, but some are just for looks. Drill the shallow plug holes now, so you can use the drill press and get holes that are square to the surface and all the same depth. You can square them up (and drill the holes for the pegs) after assembly. Before gluing up the head- and footboards, round over the edges that are “inside” them on the cloud lifts, spindles, stiles, and posts (do the outside edges after Glue in the decorative spline. Don’t worry about cleaning up the bandsaw marks on the inside curve. It is the tight joints along the sides that matter most (above). After the glue sets, start pillowing the outside edges with a chisel to remove most of the waste (right), then use a sanding block and P220-grit sandpaper to round over the facets. 38 FINE WOODWORKING Online Extra To see the jig McClendon uses to align the barrel nut and bolt, go to FineWoodworking.com/extras.